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you? >> how are you today, mr. president? nice to see you. we are so glad to have you here. [laughter] >> this is the team. she will be the operations manager for this new building. pres. biden: alright. >> it is so nice to meet you, sir. pres. biden: what have we got here? >> this iso ur -- is our glass cell. this will load the glasses onto the unit. this is where the operator would load the station. the robot would come in, pick up the glass and take the glass in, apply the urethane and load into the unit. >> the other side is for the windshield. >> the truck would travel right down the center. pres. biden: i got you. >> that one puts it on the back,

that one puts it on the front. >> this is where the operator would do the picking of the glass. depending on what level glass he would need, -- you would need, put a primer on it, pick it up there. pres. biden: you guys don't know this, -- you guys don't know this, but the state of delaware has the highest percentage of autoworkers in the nation. we are so small a workforce, we had the largest steel plant in the country, the largest chrysler plant, anyway -- a total of 34,000 in the workforce . we don't have any of it left anymore. but anyways, i spent a lot of time in auto plants.

by the way, my dad ran an automobile dealership. >> really? pres. biden: i got through on cars. [laughter] pretty cool. >> so we have lots of new technologies coming up. that is a simulation of what we are going to be doing at the electric vehicle center. pretty exciting stuff. pres. biden: thank you. thanks for what you are doing. we are at an inflection point in america. we used to be engaged in more research and development than any country in the world. now we are number eight. china is number one. thank you guys. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> see you, boss. >> i'm the boss. [laughter] >> have a good visit. >> thanks, guys.

[indiscernible chatter] pres. biden: the guys i grew up with worked at the auto plant. >> i want to introduce kumar. pres. biden: hey buddy, how are you? okay. >> mr. president, we are electrifying our most iconic vehicles, vehicles like our mustang, the f150, which we will build right -- right here. the total transition from diesel combustion to battery electric will take more. our dealers need to be ready for the new technology. 23 out of 100 of our dealers are already fully ev certified. we are growing that number. secondly, the charging infrastructure needs to be there as the volumes grow. we put together one of the largest charging infrastructures

in the country, about 60,000 blogs, but that is not enough. -- plugs but that is not enough. we need to grow that number as the volumes grow. pres. biden: one of the things i have in my jobs plan is 550,000 charging stations along our highways that the federal government will put in. the truth is we are at an inflection point in america. we will either move and take over this area, or we will be left behind. >> absolutely. pres. biden: it is like my grandfather. he died when i was six months old. my grandfather used to work for an american oil company. his job was back in the 1930's, he used to go from place to place, opening up gas stations because no one wanted to have all this gasoline tanks under

the ground in our neighborhoods. that was his job, open up gas stations. the same basic principle. we ought to be able to go -- even though these batteries are increasingly significantly the distance you can go, the power they possess, the size, weight, you should still be able to get in an electric vehicle and drive across the country without having to worry. >> precisely. that is where we need to go. speaking of batteries, we have been doing this for a long time. we did our first hybrid electric in 2004. you see behind you the top of that big black box. it was bulky, expensive. what you see here, mr. president, is the second, third, and fourth generation. pres. biden: i am not supposed to leave my spot. [laughter] >> you can tell they are getting

lighter, smaller. they are even getting less expensive. still, a battery electric polson system is -- eletric propulsion system -- electric propulsion system is more expensive than combustion. pres. biden: is this it? >> no, this is for the f150 hybrid. you see down there the big one for the f150. pres. biden: you surprised me. i learned something brent new. -- brand new. i thought i knew it all. >> it is amazing how far we have come. pres. biden: absolutely astounding. >> we investing in making the batteries cheaper, making them more dense. the batteries turn the motors and axles. we are building those right here in michigan. i am going to hand it to her.

pres. biden: you buy one of these vehicles, you can own all the electricity in your house. you think i am kidding. you can actually hook it up to your apartment. right now you plug in, if you have an electric vehicle or hybrid, you plug into your garage, an outlet, you will be plugging in the other way. >> we will do that with our f150 . pres. biden: i'm sorry. >> hi, mr. president. this is my motor. this is the rotor placed in the machine. we machine and assemble this. this is placed inside the e-tran. the people at ford are very excited. i am fortunate to have the opportunity to build this

product for the american people. he will explain how it is assembled. pres. biden: jobs, jobs. doing your jobs. how are you, man? >> good afternoon, mr. president. i am in charge of assembling the motor transmission, on the front is your gearbox. this is your primary drive unit, which sits in the front of the vehicle. that is your parking brake, assembly on it. pres. biden: the idea of something this small is incredible. thank you. >> hey fellas, how are you?

[indiscernible] >> adrian is the director of our advanced manufacturing. we will talk about the next gen in manufacturing that will take us through the next 100 years of ford motor company. >> good to have you in our center where we will be building the future of electrified trucks in the u.s. we have a tremendous workforce at ford, bigger than any in the u.s. in terms of uaw. we want to talk about the future of work. for us, the future of work is people and technology working in harmony. you probably saw as you walk past here scanning robots used by the engineering team to map out the entire facility. we design everything online in digital before we build the building. you saw here as you came past

our big two hev's. we use those for moving the bodies around the plant. they work together with our team to facilitate the bills. we can -- the builds. we can adjust the height air canonically for people at the stations. we are launching a series of new technologies that we use to focus on the issues for the team so they are not bombarded with issues and items, that they can focus on getting their jobs done. lastly, right behind you we have one of the largest cobalts in the world. that is a collaborative robot so people can work right next to it. the team leader for this area will show you how she can work together collaboratively with the robot. pres. biden: okay. >> instead of it being in a

guarded area, as soon as it touches penny, it will stop and restart. she can stand right next to it. when we start the lineup, penny will be working with this giant robot as she works with this robot that is measuring the onboard scale system we have in the new f150 that enables us to indicate to the customer how full that is with whatever they are hauling around the country, to do that safely. that is something we are doing from a technology standpoint. collaboratively, people and technology working together for the future. pres. biden: is there a training program that your employees will be going through? >> there is extensive training. this is a big transition, but it is also much simpler work. pres. biden: it is, but is there a timeframe for that?

>> yeah, we have a technical training center we have in partnership with the uwa. -- the uaw. our employees go through that. they get on-the-job training in association with the area they are operating. our team has team leaders working in the plant, working with this technology. they are the experts. they know more about any of this stuff than the rest of the engineering team. often times patty spends a lot of time answering questions than actually managing the process. pres. biden: thank you. we are at a real inflection point. you are the point of that arrow. you talk about how many jobs here, but the way we will

increase jobs -- a lot of your friends say, what about the transmission plant? what about this, what about that ? we have to take over the world in this. that is what this is about, in the best in the world. that is what we can do. anyway, thank you for what you know and what you do. appreciate it. go unions. okay. how are you? >> this is part of her creation on the team. >> hi, mr. president. thanks for joining us. i am the chief engineer for this product. here at ford, with nearly a century of truck know how, we know that reliability and durability are important for our customers. when we went to create this all electric f150, we knew we had to put it through the same engineering and testing regimen

as all of our f-series trucks. behind you we've got videos of our all electric trucks going through some tough testing in michigan. also, we do this around the country, whether it is high-grade, towing a trailer, or here going through different terrains in michigan. a lot of this starts with the engineering. what we have in front of you is our underbody skateboard. this has been purposely built for our f150 lightning to nature it can sustain the load of the weight -- to make sure it can sustain the load of the weight of the vehicle. this frame has the strongest steel we have ever used in any f150. this battery in front of you is the biggest battery we have used in any ford vehicle. pres. biden: what is the weight of the battery? >> the weight of the battery is

1800 pounds. it's over 1800 times. pres. biden: 800 pounds? 1800 pounds. low center of gravity. >> yes, which helps with the handling. this battery not only helps with the drive for the vehicle to ensure our customers can drive and tow, but also we have been able to leverage this battery to provide additional tools for our customer. what you see is a hull. this battery is able to be a backup power generator in case of power outages with the home. sustaining the home for multiple days. on the go, if our customers are looking for power, we've got pro power on board, which is able to help customers power up a tailgate, power up a campsite or work at a jobsite, ensuring they

can get the job done. the other thing we are proud of is this vehicle is built in america, right here at the electric vehicle factory. not only that, a lot of our commodities are here as well. this frame i mentioned is down from kentucky. it comes from there. our battery is out of georgia. pres. biden: i know. >> event our -- even our motor, they are not only designed in-house, but produced right up the street. a lot of really great manufacturing here. pres. biden: have you had to change the tires? >> yes, we did have to change the tires and the wheels for the weight of the battery. we have several options, but one of them is providing lower resistance so you can get better range. pres. biden: fascinating.

i was down at that plant in georgia. this battery does not look much smaller than the one they're putting in the buses nowadays. >> it is a very large battery. pres. biden: some reason when you see it. what they are trying to do also is every school bus in america will be electric to take the methane out of the air and a range of other things. it's impressive. thank you. one more question. have you increased the length of the frame? >> the length of the vehicle is about the same. it's the 145 we obey. -- wheel bay. pres. biden: thank you. >> you are very welcome.

>> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including comcast. >> do you think this is just a community center? it's way more than that. >> comcast is partnering with community centers so students from low income families can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. >> comcast supports c-span as a public service, along with these television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> zalmay khalilzad is the state department's special u.s. representative for afghanistan reconciliation. he testified about the biden administration's strategy in afghanistan as the u.s. prepares to withdraw troops. also testifying, karen freeman from the u.s. agency for international development.